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OUR VIEW: Postconviction DNA testing should be available whether it's a constitutional right or not

Posted by The Editorial Board June 27, 2009 2:01 AMThe U.S. Supreme Court says people who were wrongly convicted of old crimes have no constitutional right to the DNA testing that could prove their innocence. The justices, in a 5-4 ruling last week, said it's not their job to say who should get DNA testing in old criminal cases. Rather, it should be up to Congress and state legislatures to make the call, and the court indicated satisfaction with what it called a "prompt and considered legislative response" on the issue. Surely, though, the court wasn't thinking about Alabama. This past session, after years of efforts, our Legislature finally passed a postconviction DNA law, and it was one of the last states in the union to do so. (Only three states still don't have such a law...continue to full post

Full post as published by Lethal Injection on June 28, 2009 (boomark / email).